Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Martyn Lloyd Jones
To Know God
The only reason that we know God is because He called us and sent us His Spirit. Perhaps someone shared their faith with you and you were saved since “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). But “how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching” (Romans 10:14)? We connect to God by placing our trust in Him.
Saved by God
The Bible shows that we are saved only by grace. It is a free gift of God (Ephesians 2:8), so we cannot brag about it (Ephesians 2:10). Our faith in Christ has connected us to God, Who is now our Father and to Whom we can directly pray through our High Priest, Jesus Christ. Therefore, Jesus “had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17) and promises that “if you ask me anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:14).
Trusting in God
The Apostle Peter trusted Jesus enough to walk on the water, at least for a moment (Matthew 14:29). However, when he took his eyes off Jesus and put them on the wind and the waves, “he cried out, ‘Lord, save me’” (Matthew 14:30). So “Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt’” (Matthew 14:31). Peter trusted in Christ, and his faith connected him to God; but when he started doubting after taking his eyes off Jesus, he began to sink. So shall it be with us when we look at the wind and not the Creator of the wind.
Preserved by God
Did Paul have doubts about his sure connection to God through His faith in Christ? It doesn’t look like it, as he wrote, “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6); and God “will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:8). How much more connected to God can you be if you know God’s going to finish what He started and sustain you as guiltless at the appearance of Jesus Christ?
Conclusion
What a precious faith we have, my brothers and sisters in Christ. I hear there are people all over the world who read these devotionals but to whom we are also connected by faith in Christ. Of all the religions of the world, God connected with man by the God-Man, Jesus Christ, Who gave His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45) so that we could be connected to God for time without end.
